• Following its Sept. 16 launch, Flare’s Canary Network, Songbird, has completed the scheduled 10-day Observation Mode.
• The Canary network now proceeds to two other phases leading up to Flare Network’s launch.

Flare’s Canary Network, Songbird, has completed its first 10 days in observation mode following its Sept. 16 launch. The coming of Songbird is aimed at enabling Turing-complete smart contracts on any blockchain without smart contract features.

As planned, Songbird will undergo three test phases to strengthen the protocols underlying Flare Network’s eventual launch. The “Observation Mode” was the first of these three phases, and it concluded on Sept. 27 at 14:00 GMT.

Specifically, the Observation Mode was used to deploy and test the underlying network and the Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO). The latter is one of three protocols necessary for trustless use of 65 percent of value in the crypto industry using the highly scalable Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) smart contracts.

The subsequent two protocols are the State-connector and the F-asset contracts. Combined, the three protocols allow tokens with smart contracts, and those without to directly access Flare. Additionally, the protocols will enable such tokens to be used on Flare in decentralized applications (DApps) such as DeFi, NFTs, Gaming, Metaverses, and fast and complex payments.

Songbird and the Flare Network

So far, over 340 validators and over 40 data providers have applied for whitelisting. These figures are similar to those of Polkadot when it launched its canary network, Kusama. Just like the Kusama network, Flare’s Songbird is an advanced testing network.

In the future, Songbird will be a testing ground for Flare’s governance-based updates. It is also possible that the canary network follows a different path led by its token holders. For the time being, battle-testing of the FTSO continues. Songbird is also moving forward with its launch process and looking at the removal of the whitelisting requirement.

Numerous exchanges, DeFi projects, data providers, wallets, and custodians have shown great support for Songbird. These entities also plan on launching and testing their applications on the canary network. They include Gala Games, 888 TNW, Trustline, Global Esports Federation, Delchain, Lena Instruments, Flare Finance, Ola Finance, Flare Metrics, and more.

The Bigger picture

Notably, there is a 10 percent inbuilt inflation for the first year between the State-connector and the FTSO. However, this will decrease in subsequent years. 80 percent of the total annual inflation will be distributed to those delegated to the FTSO system. Hugo Philion, the co-founder of Flare Networks, also reminds the community of the possibility of “some level of disruption & potential risk of funds” on the canary network.

Songbird’s next testing phase, the State-connector protocol, will allow state from potentially any blockchain to be used by any smart contract on Songbird and, subsequently, Flare. At the end of this phase, Songbird will enter into an unrestricted phase. External validators will have control over consensus and Songbird’s governance will be entirely the SGB token holders’ responsibility.